Chapter One
Jacob Marley
2 Jacob Marley was dead. He was definitely dead. The priest and the
man who had prepared the body, the church clerk and Scrooge had all signed the official document to say he was dead. Scrooge’s name was worth a lot on a document – the men who worked in the businesses and banks of the City of London respected that name. Did Scrooge know for sure that he was dead? Of course he did. How could he not know? Ebenezer Scrooge and Jacob Marley had been business partners for many years. He organised everything after Marley died and Scrooge was the only person who went to the church when he was buried. But even Scrooge wasn’t upset by the death of his friend, and carried on working after he got back from church. So, we can be absolutely sure that Marley was dead. You must understand this fact or nothing wonderful will come from this story I’m going to tell you. Years passed, but Scrooge didn’t take Marley’s name from his office door. People called him Scrooge or Marley but he didn’t correct them, he answered to both names. People borrowed money from Scrooge but he always got every bit back, and more – they paid him extra so that they could borrow money from him. He was as hard as a stone, as sharp as a knife. He didn’t care if it was hard for people to pay him back. He loved money so much that he never let go of it.
10
